Wa, May 27, GNA - Mr Tibila Sandow, Wa Municipal Director of Ghana Meteorological Agency on Wednesday gave the assurance that Upper West Region would record normal rains which would not pose serious threats such as floods and other major rainfall-related disasters this year. However, he warned people in the Region against engaging in human made factors such as poor planning and building on waterways that could result in serious floods in the event of heavy rains. Mr Sandow gave the assurance at a day's emergency stakeholders meeting on disasters at Wa.

He said this year would record normal or neutral rainfall which would neither be El-Mina (Excessive rains) nor El-mino (less rains) in the Region.

Two years ago, Upper West and East Regions recorded heavy floods as a result of heavy rainfalls resulting in the lost of lives and property.

The meeting was to map out strategies to prevent the recurrence of such disasters in the area. Mr Sandow appealed to farmers to strictly adhere to technical advice from Agricultural Extension Officers to prevent any food shortage in the Region.

He said the total rainfall between April and October this year would not go beyond 963.0mm and warned farmers against farming along river banks because it could be detrimental to both human and animal life during the year.

Mr Mohamud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister urged planning organizations in the Region to step up their activities to prevent people from building in areas that could result into disasters He appealed to consultants of various organizations to constantly supervise the work of contractors to avoid the recurrence of disasters in the Region.

Mr Khalid commended the stakeholders for their initiative and urged them to implement their findings early enough for the government to study it for future policies.

Mr Seidu Bawa, Upper West Regional Coordinator of National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) said his outfit would continue to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure no serious disaster was recorded in the Region in future. He said effective collaborators in disaster management were, United Nations Agencies, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Highways Authority, Ghana Health Service, Community Water and Sanitation Agency, PRONET and Ghana Meteorological Agency. 27 May 09